I haven't been on snow for a while so I decided to load up the pack and head to the Granite Lookout. The trail is in decent shape, until you hit the 3200 foot mark. At 3000 feet you see the first tiny patches of snow, by 3200-3500 feet you're on a slushy slick trail. Treking poles were very helpful in the slick mess. Micro spikes would have been very nice.
At around 3800 feet the trail crosses an avy gully that goes straight up for almost 2000 feet. The gully was littered with avalanche debris, but everything was very stable all the way up. Conditions got better as I went up, cooler temps made for better snow to kick steps in. About 2/3 up I crossed over some steps kicked in the snow and took advantage of the nice set of stairs made ahead of me. After a few minutes I noticed a group of 3 headed straight up the gully. At this point it was starting to get a little crusty and slick in places so I put on my crampons. I really sped up and caught up to the group in no time, and thanked them for the steps. They where headed in a direct line straight up the gully, and I decided to head climbers left to the ridge. As I traversed back to the right towards the tower, I met up with the 3 climbers, slightly ahead of them.
On the way down it was a combo of plunge stepping and glisading. I also got in some self arrest practice. It would have been much more fun if it wasn't for the bad the snow conditions and the avy debris.
I think and ice axe was a must, it would have been nice to have micro spikes (esp. on the way down on the slushy trail!), and crampons helped out alot at the top.
I saw 6 other people the entire day, it was really nice to be out of any sort of crowd.
Fog obstructed any views, but the tower itself was beautiful with all of the windblown snow stuck to it.
CLick here to view all the pic from my trip up to the lookout!
